Useful Financial Resources You Might Not Be Aware of

There are many ways to optimize your expenses today and ensure that every cent you spend goes towards something productive. It’s not always easy to get a good overview of what’s going in and out of your bank accounts, and additionally, you may often find yourself spending money on things that are far from worth their price. In general, it’s important to maintain an objective overview of your financial situation, know what resources you have available, and use them to their full potential at all times.

Free Tax Returns

Did you know that if you’ve made less than $66,000 in the last tax year, you’re able to file your taxes for free with the assistance of government-provided software? Various states also offer their own individual special programs for free tax returns, and it’s generally quite easy to find a deal that can allow you to file without spending a cent on assistance. Above that threshold, you can still make use of certain forms that will assist you in the process but will not make it completely automatic.

Gift Card Swapping

It’s common that you’ll get your hands on various gift cards that you don’t really need, and they can quickly pile up around the house. That’s not lost value though – with services like Cardpool, you can easily make use of the ones you don’t need without having to discard them. What is Cardpool, you might ask? It’s a service that allows you to swap gift cards with others who don’t need theirs, taking a small hit on the original value of the card. It’s worth noting that the service works even for partially charged cards, although there is a minimum (and maximum) limit to the value of each card you’re selling.

Free Trials

There are various services and sites that provide free trials for their services, sometimes without any special requirements at all. If you have a university e-mail though, that’s even better – you’ll get access to tons of additional promotions and special services that might not even be available for regular customers. Also, whenever the checkout form of a site asks you if you have any coupons, you should look up if there are any up for grabs on Google – you’d be surprised how often they’re published out in the open for everyone to see! Just check the expiration date listed on the website and you’re good to go. And if it doesn’t work, you’re not really losing anything.

Putting all these together and making use of every other bit of assistance you can get online, you can easily go quite far on even a more limited budget. There are many ways to use your money more effectively these days, so make sure that you’re always investigating your opportunities to their fullest. With resources like Google and other modern search engines available, you really have no excuse for not making use of everything that’s out there. And you never know, you might also land on a promotion that nobody else knows about yet!